Subj : Re: Do you remember the first time you saw Monty Python, movie or TV se
To   : George Kincaid
From : Guilbert
Date : Sat Aug 13 2005 09:50 am

From: "Guilbert" <guilbert@nospax.blueyonder.co.uk>

>I understand the show was a bit of a sleeper, and took a while to catch
>on-- was that true?

When Monty Python started we only had 3 TV channels here in the UK (now with 
satellite, cable etc we have hundreds, mostly crap).

We had two from the BBC called BBC1 and BBC2, and one from commercial 
television, called ITV. Monty Python was a BBC show.

BBC1 was for 'mainstream' television, and BBC2 was for minority programs such 
as the arts, documentaries, and snooker (I think colour was just starting in 
those days and BBC2 was in colour so they chose snooker to show off the 
colour).

Now the BBC has a great history for supporting comedy, and often put on shows 
it did not understand, such as the Goons on Radio (can you imagine that in the 
1950s).

When Python was first made none of the people in it were that well known 
(Cleese probably the best), the rest had appeared on some shows, and done a lot 
of writing for others such as David Frost and the 'Doctor' TV series.

As you may know, the original idea was for each show to have a different title, 
so people would have to hunt round for it, and not know what to expect when it 
was on (hardly a way to build up ratings), but they eventually settled on 
'Monty Python'.

Being a zany show the BBC did not really know what to do with it, so they stuck 
it on BBC2, late at night, on a Sunday I think. Each week it was a different 
time, so when the first series was shown, because it was a minority channel, 
with zany comedy, with mainly unknown performers, it took a while to build up 
an audience.

I think eventually they repeated it on BBC1, to a bigger audience, and 
eventually it even got on the front cover of the BBC listings magazine the 
Radio Times, quite a coup in those days.

I am not sure the viewing figures were ever that large, even in its heyday, it 
is an aquired taste after all, but 'Pythonesque' certainly entered the 
language.

And of course even today, whatever the members do, they are still called 
ex-python Micheal Palin or ex-python John Cleese which is strange given the 
quiet beginings of the show.

Alan

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